ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on some of the regulatory and economic institutions that underpin the United States (US) electricity system, and explains how they are interlinked with the different cultural biases. It examines how renewable energy and nuclear power are associated with these biases, and how this interacts with the institutional setting. It is in this context that the chapter examines how climate change politics are involved. In places like Nevada, individualist bias is aiding renewable energy development, whereas in some places, such as Florida, electricity monopolies are still resisting campaigns for renewable energy. In the US, hierarchy in electricity is represented by the tradition of monopoly electricity suppliers who are regulated by Public Utility Commissions, sometimes known as Public Service Commissions. This is the pattern in majority of states, although a few of the monopoly suppliers have to buy from competitive wholesale markets. The chapter focuses on some major incentives promoting low carbon fuels, the federal level and state-level policies.
